Make no mistake, I have always been a fan of Ice Cube.  Back in the day he brought it like few were bringing it.  His new venture, Raw Footage, is everything that I thought it would be, which is not a good thing.

A long time ago I came to the realization that when I really enjoyed an album by a specific artist, that I could expect that to be the last good album produced by the artist.  After that, it was down hill.  While many like The Predator and Lethal Injection, I will cling to the thought that Death Certificate was the last good Ice Cube album.  For me, it was when he was raw, unfiltered, and not main stream enough to be watered down by what is popular.

I knew I was in trouble when I looked at the track listing and saw the first song featured Young Jeezy.  Despite that, I still gave the album an honest listen, and was really disappointed.  But I do not blame Ice Cube.  Not in the least.  I mean after all, what would you expect from someone who creates “The N—- Ya Love to Hate” and then several years later stars in “Are We There Yet?”

This is merely O’Shea Jackson attempting to keep up with the times when they have clearly left him behind. 

The 2006 release of “Laugh Now, Cry Later” contained a small glimpse into what used to be Ice Cube with tracks Why We Thugs and Child Support, but this new album contains almost none of what the artist used to be.  He just jumped on the music styling bandwagon and sadly he waited too late to hitch a ride.

I really believe that he should have stayed in acting and moved forward in that arena, rather than trying to continually swap back and forth between hard core rap artist to family actor.  But then again, not everyone can really be true to the game.